Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Jews and Kurds 'almost never fought'

Rabbi Zechariah Barashi (photo: L Berman)

The world's oldest Jew is also the world's oldest Kurdish Israeli - Rabbi Zechariah Barashi, who came to Jerusalem in 1938. Jewish-Muslim relations in Kurdistan were excellent, Barashi tells Lazar Berman, writing for Rudaw, a Kurdish online news medium. Traditionally, the Jews were under the protection of the Agha, the local tribal chieftain, and were desperately poor and illiterate. (With thanks: Dominique)

In a humble apartment in Jerusalem’s Baka
neighborhood, about a mile south of the walls of the Old City, the world’s
oldest living Jew goes about his daily ritual. As he has for over a century,
the rabbi rises in the morning, puts on his tefillin, or prayer phylacteries,
with the help of one of his students, and says his morning prayers.

Then, he
sits to learn the Torah, Talmud, or kabbalah, examining it with the same fervor
and passion he did when he started learning as a teenager.
In addition to being the world’s oldest Jew, Rabbi
Zechariah Barashi, 114, is also the world’s oldest Kurd.

Barashi, still sharp and gregarious in his old age,
remembers details from events 80 years ago with surprising clarity. He gives
exact dates, names, and even prices of bus rides as he recounts his time
growing up in the Badinan region of Kurdistan, and his journey to the
British-controlled territory that would soon become Israel.

He was generous with his time to sit with me for
three hours to answer questions and tell his story.
Born in Barashi in 1900, Zechariah was the last
child born to Rabbi Eliyahu Barashi and his wife Simchah. Six of his siblings
died in their childhood, leaving him with two older sisters, Sarah and
Reichana.

His parents worked in traditional Jewish trades,
including farming vineyards, dates, and nuts. Jews, Barashi told me in his
home, also sewed Kurdish clothing, which were seen as especially well-made by
their Muslim neighbors. At the age of
eight, Zechariah moved with his grandfather to Atrush itself. His father
eventually joined them, becoming the rabbi of the Jewish community there, which
only numbered about 100 people.

His family continued to move from village to
village as Barashi’s father served the Jews living in the region’s small
communities. “He would leave the house on Sunday and return on Friday,” Barashi
recounted. “Sometimes he would come home after two weeks.”

Life was not easy for the Barashis. He remembers a
difficult three-year famine after the First World War.
“The Turks looted whatever they could after the
war,” he recalled, “and whoever survived the war died of hunger.”

It was also difficult for Jews to study Torah and
Talmud, as there were no yeshivas, or study halls, in the region. However, the
larger communities, like Duhok and Sindor, enjoyed large synagogues with
opportunities for study.

But, as opposed to many other Jewish communities
across the world, 90 percent of the Jews in Kurdistan could not read or write.
Less than one in ten even knew how to pray. “Despite this,” Barashi emphasized,
“the Jews kept the Sabbath and the holidays, family purity, a strictly Kosher
home, fear of heaven and parents, and respect for their elders.”

Because of the lack of education, the rabbi had to
explain the meaning of the Hebrew prayers in Aramaic or Kurmanji at the end of
the service so the community would understand.
Despite the challenges, Rabbi Barashi has fond
memories of his childhood.

When he wasn’t studying the Torah with his father at
home, he was out playing with the children of his village, Muslims and Jews
together.

“We had excellent relations with the Muslim Kurds, like brothers. We
almost never fought. If there ever was a fight, they would quickly inform the
Agha, who would warn the parents that if their child acted up again, he would
expel the entire family.”

He sees no comparison between today’s tensions between Jews and Arabs in Israel, and the relationship between Jews and Muslim
Kurds in Kurdistan. “It was like the Garden of Eden there,” he said. “Today,
everything is madness.”

Barashi remembers a man named Mirza as the Agha of Meriba, the town his family was living in. He was as “an important man, one of
the greatest governors in the mountains of Kurdistan.”

Mirza’s wife saved Barashi’s life at the age of 11.
It was after the Passover holidays, and not one speck of food remained in the
house. For two days, the family did not eat, and Zechariah fell sick. His
father was away trying to buy meat on the black market. After having lost so
many children, his mother was determined to save him. She went to the Agha’s
wife, and begged her for food.

The wife hesitated at first, saying she was
afraid her husband would find out, and be angry that he would now be forced to
give to everyone who asked. Barashi’s mother persisted, her only son’s life was
at stake, and assured her that she would hide the food under her dress, and no
one would know. The Agha’s wife agreed, and the boy recovered.

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Introduction

In just 50 years, almost a million Jews, whose communities stretch back up to 3,000 years, have been 'ethnically cleansed' from 10 Arab countries. These refugees outnumber the Palestinian refugees two to one, but their narrative has all but been ignored. Unlike Palestinian refugees, they fled not war, but systematic persecution. Seen in this light, Israel, where some 50 percent of the Jewish population descend from these refugees and are now full citizens, is the legitimate expression of the self-determination of an oppressed indigenous, Middle Eastern people.This website is dedicated to preserving the memory of the near-extinct Jewish communities, which can never return to what and where they once were - even if they wanted to. It will attempt to pass on the stories of the Jewish refugees and their current struggle for recognition and restitution. Awareness of the injustice done to these Jews can only advance the cause of peace and reconciliation.(Iran: once an ally of Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran is now an implacable enemy and numbers of Iranian Jews have fallen drastically from 80,000 to 20,000 since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Their plight - and that of all other communities threatened by Islamism - does therefore fall within the scope of this blog.)